Hi everyone! Hello from here in Finland, where the snow is finally melting, it is past 9 p.m. and and it is no longer dark! Anyway, it has been 3 years since I bought my trusty Pentax K7. I put that baby to work in cold (really cold) winters and in lovely Midnight Sun scenes. TIME TO GET A NEW PENTAX!!!

My reason for writing is that I find it hard to make up my mind between the, well you guessed it: the Pentax K5 II and the Pentax K5 IIs. I have been looking online as to whether there is a notable difference. I read (and see in some examples) where the sharpness is a little better in the K5 IIs, but I wanted to write to you guys and see what frank advice is. I don't want to have the most expensive of "expensive sake", but I do a lot of LANDSCAPE photography and I would really like to move in to studio portraits (Here in Finland, I belong to a camera club that has a really wicked cool studio that I can use, with all the lighting equipment one could dream of. Anyway, any advice, thoughts, etc????

I think that you have posed a very difficult question here, and its going to come down to your personal preference between landscapes and what you believe you may shoot in a studio. Here is a comparison between the two bodies - really the only one that I have heard about that has quantitatively measured the difference between the two camera bodies.

The removal of the AA filter in the IIs adds about an 8% increase in sharpness. They really do not go into any detail in terms of how they measured the 8%, but its at least a figure of merit. In order to achieve that 8% increase, you need to use the best glass available, as the higher quality lenses will provide the resolution that the sensor can then record.

The cost to achieve this is two fold - 1) about $100 and 2) the possibility of having some moiré in the image. If in your studio work you believe that you may be using a lot of cloth or fabric in your shots, then you would have some level of probability (but not certainty) of getting moiré. I'v read that if you shoot landscapes then the K5IIs, if you shoot weddings then the K5II. Moire is just not limited to fabrics, but can also be captured in landscapes (as in tiled roofs) and nature - bird feathers. In another forum, folks have been trying to capture moire to see how bad it actually is, and they have found that its pretty difficult to find.

I have also read that the K5II has a very weak Anti Aliasing filter (compared to the K5), and with very strong patterns, it too is subject to capturing moiré.

While I don't have either camera, I think that just about covers it. If you are serious about getting into fashion/studio photography then the K5II is the better choice. After all, the gains with the K5IIs are small relatively. On the other hand, if you are just playing around with studio photography, just to learn about it and become a better photographer, and your heart is really into landscape, then get the K5IIs. Personally, I would get the K5IIs, especially if you are planning on keeping the K7 as a backup camera if I were in your shoes. In my own situation, I am perfectly happy with the K5 and thought the gains with the K5IIs weren't enough to tempt me into spending money on a new camera this time.

The prices are still high, in my opinion, for the K5. I have been hoping that prices for the K5 II or the K5 IIs would go down a little.

I somehow think that the K5 II or K5 IIs would be best... Any studio work would be a little ways down the road... but I sure do a lot of Landscape photography... so perhaps the K5 IIs would be the best.

One thing I am surprised about is how on YOUTUBE I see some footage of how well the K5 IIS does against Canon and Nikon. Amazing.

As a satisfied K20D owner, am in no position to advise you, but am sure that whichever you choose to purchase, you will produce some great photos with your new camera. Just don't forget to post some here!

As a satisfied K20D owner, am in no position to advise you, but am sure that whichever you choose to purchase, you will produce some great photos with your new camera. Just don't forget to post some here!